Rather than cooks, each matchup pitted two analysts against each other, each taking the side of one ETF. Three other analysts then voted on which ETF was the better investment. Five analysts from ETF.com took part: Paul Baiocchi, Paul Britt, Ugo Egbunike, Dennis Hudachek and Elisabeth Kashner.

In assessing the China ETFs ASHR and GXC (the DB X-trackers Harvest China ETF
and the SPDR S&P China ETF
), there was some consensus that neither provides the more complete exposure to China that might come with future ETFs. A deciding factor in ASHR\’s win was its access to the stocks that actually trade in mainland China — i.e. A shares.

For low-volatility plays USMV and SPLV (the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF
and the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF
), the voters seemed won over by Egbunike\’s touting of USMV\’s lower expense ratio and blasting of SPLV\’s tilt toward utilities. He also defended USMV\’s big-cap tilt, saying it just makes sense.

With the commodity ETFs DBC and DPJ (the PowerShares DB Commodity Index ETF
and the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Commodity ETF
), the analysts knocked DBC for its 60% exposure to energy. They also didn\’t like a potential inconvenience associated with holding DBC due to its structure: Having to deal with a K-1 tax document.

The analysts offered several reasons for going with IEMG over ECON (the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
and the EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF
). Kashner was skeptical of ECON\’s focus on emerging-market consumers, while Egbunike noted that ECON earns lower grades from ETF.com\’s rating system, suggesting that it \”has some credibility issues at the end of the day.\”

It\’s worth noting that before the arguments began, moderator Olly Ludwig, managing editor at ETF.com, said the session would be \”fun\” and \”rigorous\” but \”not an investment recommendation.\”

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